Parents react to rejection of RSU 19 loan

NEWPORT, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Now that voters have gone to the polls and made their decision against a $3.6 million loan to bail out Regional School Unit 19, several more decisions will have to be made.

Voters from Corinna, Dixmont, Etna, Hartland, Newport, Palmyra, Plymouth, and St. Albans went to the polls on election night and voted against a Validation Referendum that read: "Do you favor approving the Regional School Unit No. 19 borrowing in the amount of $3,600,000 that will be used to fund the operation of schools and that was approved at the October 13, 2012 Regional School Unit special budget meeting?". 52.10% voted No and 47.32% voted yes. As a result several sports teams, Music Programs, Field Trips, and other extracurricular activities will be cut from the RSU.

Those cuts concern several parents like Jennifer Kuespert, who's 13-year-old daughter won't be able to participate in basketball or show chorus when she enters her freshman year of high school next fall. "I'm worried about what's going to happen to the kids," says Kuespert. "They're losing sports programs, they're losing art, they're losing music. Everything but they're basic school classes."

Now that the loan validation has failed, RSU 19 budget cuts are projected to total as much as $728,795.